Singer Steel on Random Road in Cleveland’s Little Italy has a new owner — a local real estate developer. But the property, used as covered parking, has a steady revenue stream even if it isn’t developed (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Developer has no immediate plans for site
Passersby took note of a new sign that has gone up this week on the old Singer Steel building, 2100 Random Rd. in Cleveland’s Little Italy. The sign is for an active local developer named TurnDev of Beachwood, leading those passersby to wonder what’s next for the former industrial building that was turned into covered parking area.
But TurnDev apparently is in no hurry to redevelop the site with a new use. The property has a steady, near-guaranteed stream of income from about 80 permit-only parking spaces that are used by University Hospital commuters during the weekdays. In the evenings and on weekends, the lot is used by a Little Italy valet operator for visitors to the neighborhood’s many restaurants, galleries and shops.
“We’re still studying it, to be honest,” said Jon Pinney, a principal at TurnDev, when asked what they intend to do with the 1.22-acre site. He acknowledged that it simply was too good of a property not to buy. The ex-Singer Steel site is one of the largest and last under-developed properties in this gentrifying neighborhood that’s next to the booming University Circle district.
The purchase price of the property was not disclosed in public records due to a creative way of handling the transfer. Not disclosing the purchase price can help reduce property taxes by keeping Cuyahoga County appraisers guessing. The property was appraised in 2024 at $599,700, county records show.
The southern side of the former Singer Steel property. The parking garages on the other side of the railroad tracks belong to University Hospitals which also has permit parking in the former steel factory (Google).
TurnDev, doing business as TD 2100 Random Rd Acquisition LLC, took title to the property on Nov. 26, 2024 from At Random Ltd. via a limited warranty deed. Such a deed transfer doesn’t require the purchase price to be disclosed when the deed is recorded with the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer. That happened because the prior owner was briefly involved with buyer.
At Random, founded by Raymond Theiss of Gladstone Ventures and investor Steve Niksa, bought the site in 1996. But in 2001, Kirt Montlack took over as manager and sought to develop the site. And he was briefly listed in public records as the agent of TD 2100 Random Rd Acquisition.
But Montlack was replaced as agent on or about Dec. 9, 2024 by 1600 CNB Corp., an affiliate of law firm Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP (KJK). Pinney is also a partner at KJK. At Random was dissolved on Dec. 23, 2024. Pinney said Montlack is no longer involved in the ownership.
TurnDev’s many developments include renovating the ArtCraft Building on Superior Avenue downtown into the new Cleveland Division of Police headquarters. It is redeveloping the Shooters restaurant in the Flats for its new owner — MGK, aka Machine Gun Kelly, aka Richard Colson Baker.
A redevelopment concept for the former Singer Steel plant was included in the 2005 Little Italy Master Plan, showing it repurposed as the Random Road Business Center with a corner restaurant/coffee shop. About a decade later, a portion of the former factory was demolished for the luxury Quattro Condominiums (City Architecture).
The developer also is moving forward on a large residential development in Ohio City and another one in Gordon Square. And it is pursuing a light-industrial development called Opportunity Commerce Park featuring a warehouse of up to 230,000 square feet at 4900 Woodland Ave. in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood.
Residents said at Little Italy Block Club meetings going back to last spring that they were hearing the ex-Singer Steel property was being sold. But the buyer didn’t make itself known until TurnDev’s signs appeared on the former factory.
The surviving portion of the former Singer Steel plant includes a 31,257-square-foot skeletal shell which provides the covered parking area. It was considered a future development site in a 2005 Little Italy Master Plan developed by City Architecture for the Little Italy Redevelopment Corp. Nearly all of the other future development sites identified in that plan were since developed.
Singer Steel was established in Little Italy in 1923 and remained there until 1994 when it relocated its two dozen workers to a larger, 53,000-square-foot plant in suburban Streetsboro and doubled its workforce. It grew again after the turn of the century, doubling the size of the plant to process more flat-rolled and plate steel. The company was acquired by Ryerson Inc. in 2011 but retained the Singer name.
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